PROBLEM SOLVING

Mathematics Assessment Project

CLASSROOM CHALLENGES
A Formative Assessment Lesson

Comparing Data

Mathematics Assessment Resource Service

University of Nottingham & UC Berkeley
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2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham
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Comparing Data
MATHEMATICAL GOALS
This lesson unit is intended to help students to make meaningful comparisons between sets of data. In
particular, students will develop their abilities in the following areas:
Selecting appropriate measures of center and variability in order to summarize the important
features of a set of data.
Use quantitative measures to justify an argument.

COMMON CORE STATE ST ANDARDS

This lesson relates to the following Standards for Mathematical Content in the Common Core State
Standards for Mathematics:
7.SP

Use measures of center and measures of variability for numerical data from random
samples to draw informal comparative inferences about two populations.
This lesson also relates to the following Standards for Mathematical Practice in the Common Core
State Standards for Mathematics:
1.
2.
3.
5.

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Use appropriate tools strategically.

INTRODUCTION
This lesson is structured in the following way:

Before the lesson, students work individually on an assessment task, Getting James to Work,
designed to reveal their current understandings and difficulties. You review their solutions and
create questions for them to answer in order to improve their work.
The lesson begins with a whole-class introduction in which students review important terms.
Students work in pairs on a collaborative task in which they create data to satisfy written
descriptions. When they have constructed their data sets, they separate their data from the
descriptive text and pass the data to students in another group, who have not worked with the data
to construct a description of their own. The two descriptions are then compared.
In a whole-class discussion students discuss their approaches to the task and what they have
learned.
In a follow-up lesson, students receive your comments on the assessment task and use these to
attempt another task, approaching it with insights that they have gained from the lesson.

MATERIALS REQUIRED
Each student will need a copy of the assessment tasks Getting James to Work and Running Times, a
mini-whiteboard, pen and eraser.
Each small group of students will need either the sheet Getting Raj to Work (1) or the sheet Getting
Raj to Work (2), blank paper, calculators and a pair of scissors. Extension tasks Getting Raj to Work
Extension (1)/(2) are also available for use after the lesson if desired.

TIME NEEDED
20 minutes before the lesson for the assessment task, a 110-minute lesson (or two 55-minute lessons)
and 30 minutes in a follow-up lesson (or for homework). Timings given are approximate and will
depend on the needs of your class.
Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-1

BEFORE THE LESSON

Assessment task: Getting James to Work (20 minutes)
Have the students complete this task, in class or
Getting James to Work
for homework, a few days before the formative
James wants to get to work as quickly and reliably as possible in the mornings.
assessment lesson. This will give you an
He tries three different transport methods:
opportunity to assess the work and to find out
cycle all the way
the kinds of difficulties students have with it.
drive all the way
walk to the railway station, take the train, and walk from the station.
You should then be able to target your help
He tries each method several times and records how many minutes the entire journey takes:
more effectively in the follow-up lesson.
bicycle
28 24 25 29 25 26 26 23 29 25
car
19 21 32 57 31 27 21 24
walk-train-walk 21 24 31 26 24 30

Give each student a copy of the assessment task

Getting James to Work.
Briefly introduce the task, helping the class to
understand the problem. You could ask:
How did you get to school this morning?
[E.g. bus, car, train, walk, etc.]
Is there more than one feasible way or do
you not really have any choice?
Depending on your schools location, some
options may be impossible or unlikely and you
may have a lot of or very little variety among
the students in your class.

Look carefully at James results.

1. Use the data to make a case for why he should travel to work by bicycle.

2. Use the data to make a case for why he should travel to work by car.

James has got three options for getting to work. He has written down how long each one took
him.
How many times did he try going by car? [8] How did you figure that out?
These questions are intended to get students examining the data and to help them to see that each
number represents a day.
Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-1

Use what you notice about the data and the meaning of the numbers listed for bicycles, car and
walk-train-walk to answer the questions on the sheet.
It is important that, as far as possible, students answer the questions without assistance. If students are
struggling to get started, ask questions that help them understand what they are being asked to do, but
do not do the problem for them. The first few questions on the Common issues table may be helpful.
Students should not worry too much if they cannot understand or do everything, because there will be
a lesson related to this, which should help them. Explain to students that by the end of the next lesson
they should expect to answer questions such as these confidently; this is their goal.
Assessing students responses
Collect students responses to the task. Make some notes on what their work reveals about their
current levels of understanding and their different problem-solving approaches.
We suggest that you do not score students work. Research suggests that this will be
counterproductive, as it will encourage students to compare their scores and distract their attention
from what they can do to improve their mathematics. Instead, help students to make further progress
by summarizing their difficulties as a series of questions. Some suggestions for these are given in the
Common issues table on the next page.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-2

We recommend that you:

write one or two questions on each students work, or

give each student a printed version of your list of questions, and highlight the questions for each
individual student.
If you do not have time to do this, you could select a few questions that will be of help to the majority
of students, and write these questions on the board when you return the work to the students.
The students will consider your comments when their work is returned to them in the follow-up
lesson.

Common issues

Suggested questions and prompts

Does not refer to the data

Can you use the data given on the sheet to

make your case?

For example: The student writes that James

should go by bicycle because it is cheaper/better
for the environment.
Assumes larger numbers are better
For example: The student writes that going by car
is best because it has the highest mean.

Which is better for James: a higher or a lower

mean? Why is this?
Can you now consider other measures to
support your case?

Calculates one measure for each method of

transport
For example: The student just uses the mean to
support their case.
Refers to only one method of transport
For example: The student states that James should
go by bicycle because the mean time is 26
minutes.

One car day was very different from all the

others. Which one? What could have caused
this? What should we do about this value?

Ignores the outlier in the car data

For example: The student writes that the mean
time by car is 29 minutes.

Does your answer seem reasonable? How

could you check your answers?

Makes a technical error

For example: The student makes an arithmetic
mistake when calculating measures.
Provides two good justifications
For example: The student justifies travelling by
bicycle and by car by making sensible
comparisons.

Teacher guide

How does this compare with the other methods

of transport?

What other factors, apart from this data, might

be important for James to consider when
deciding how to get to work?

Comparing Data

T-3

SUGGESTED LESSON OUT LINE

Whole-class introduction (10 minutes)
Give each student a mini-whiteboard, pen and eraser.
Briefly remind students about the Getting James to Work task.
Do you remember the Getting James to Work task? What was it about?
Im not returning your work to you just yet. That will happen after this lesson.
We are going to be doing something similar today and will be using ideas like mean, median,
range and outlier.
Display Slide P-1 showing a list of the four terms.
What do these terms mean?

Mean
Median
Range
Outlier
Ask students to say what they understand by each of them:
Projector Resources

Comparing Data

P-1

What do you know about these terms?

How are they useful in making comparisons?
If students are unsure of their meaning then they could discuss them with each other and write their
answers on mini-whiteboards. They will need to be conversant with these terms for the rest of this
lesson.
Collaborative small group work (1): constructing data (35 minutes)
Ask students to work in groups of two or three.
Give each group some blank paper, a pair of scissors and either Getting Raj to Work (1) or Getting
Raj to Work (2). (Trials of this unit suggest that students find completing the B1 data table more
difficult than completing table A1 so you may wish to use this information when determining which
task to give to which group.)
Provide students with a calculator if they do not have one.
Explain to students what they are to do:
Raj is travelling to work and he can go by bicycle or by car.
Your card has some data on it but there is some data missing.
At the top of the card someone has written a description of the data and a conclusion about
whether Raj should travel to work by bicycle or by car.
Your task is to complete the data table so that it fits the description. You are going to use the
information given to make up some times to go in the table.
You can use a calculator if you need to and there is blank paper available for rough work.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-4

Display Slide P-2, which summarizes these instructions:

While students are working, you have two tasks: to notice student approaches to the task and to
support problem solving.
Make a note of student approaches to the task
Notice how students make a start on the task, where they get stuck and how they respond if they do
come to a halt. Do students start with one component of the description, and if so, which measure do
they address first? Or do they start by inventing data and hope that it will work? Do they assume that
the table must be completed with ten values to match the number already given for the bicycle/car or
do they invent less/more data values? Do they write their made-up values in order or do they
rearrange the data to check it meets the criteria given in the description? Do they comment on the
conclusion of whether Raj should travel by bicycle or by car? You can use this information to focus a
whole-class discussion towards the end of the lesson.
Support student problem solving
Try not to make suggestions that push students towards a particular approach to the task. Instead, ask
questions to help students clarify their thinking.
The following questions and prompts may be helpful:
Can you check the data that has been given to you on the card? Does it fit the description?
Which fact in the description are you going to begin with? Why?
Which facts in the description are you going to leave until later? Why?
If you find students are unproductively struggling for some time you may want to suggest they:
Find data values that approximately fit the descriptions. This is good enough.
Or/and create fewer than ten data values.
If students still do not know where to begin, to help them to develop useful strategies you may want
to ask:
Can you write down five numbers with a mean of 10?
Can you write down five numbers with a mean of 10 and a median that isnt 10?
Can you write down five numbers with a mean of 10 and a median of 10 and one outlier?
Can you write down five numbers with a mean of 10 and a range of 3?
The figures five and ten have been carefully chosen because they are easy numbers to use in division
and multiplication. Also an odd number is preferable when calculating the median.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-5

Probe students for the strategies they used to obtain the data values in these simpler cases and see if
they can apply these approaches to the information given on the card.
If students are making good progress with the task, encourage them to check that their data values are
reasonable in the given context:
Your values may fit the description, but are they realistic?
Can you now change some of them to make them more realistic (but still fit the description)?
Collaborative small group work (2): writing descriptions (25 minutes)
When most groups have finished completing their card and you judge that an appropriate amount of
time has been spent on the task, stop the class:
Take your scissors and cut along the dashed line.
Swap the data table with another group. If you have card A1, swap it with another groups card
B1 and vice versa. Keep the top part!
Your task now is to write a description of the data that you have just been given. You must refer
to the mean, median and range in your description and comment on any outliers.
Try to reconstruct what is written at the top of the card! It wont be exactly the same, but it will
be interesting to see the similarities and differences.
Once you have completed your description, explain whether you think Raj should travel to work
by bicycle or by car.
Students should write their description on a piece of paper. They can use the top parts of their own
cards to remind them of the kinds of things that they might write.
Slide P-3 summarizes these instructions:

Collaborative small group work (3): comparison of descriptions (20 minutes)

Once the students have written their descriptions and come to a conclusion about which mode of
transport Raj should use, they should pair up with the group whose data they were using and compare
what they have written with the descriptions on the card.
See what the similarities and differences are between what you wrote and what it said on the
card. Maybe what you wrote was better?
Check whether you came to the same conclusion about which mode of transport Raj should use.
Some differences will be due to focusing on different aspects of the data; others may be due to errors
on the part of the group constructing the data. Encourage students to identify errors and think about
any revisions that may be required.
Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-6

Whole-class discussion (20 minutes)

In a whole-class discussion, depending on how the lesson went, encourage students to talk about what
they have learned, strategies they used and/or what differences arose during the comparison of
descriptions and conclusions.
Questions you might like to ask about strategies used to create data sets:
When figuring out the data values, what measure did you work with first? Why was that?
Then what did you do?
Did anyone use a different strategy?
What difficulties did you encounter? Did you overcome these difficulties? How?
Questions you might like to ask about writing and comparing descriptions:
How close were your descriptions to the ones on the card?
Did you come to the same conclusions?
Why do you think that was?
What were the differences? Were they significant? Why?
Follow-up lesson: reviewing the assessment task (30 minutes)
Begin by returning to the students the initial assessment task Getting James to Work. If you have
chosen not to write questions on individual student papers, display your list of questions on the board.
Here are my comments on the work you did [a few days ago]. Working individually, consider
your responses to my questions and how you could improve your work. Write your responses on
the back if there isnt space on the task sheet.
Give students a copy of the task Running Times.
Now, see if you can use what you have learnt last lesson to complete this similar task.
Teachers may prefer to give this as a homework task.
Extension task
If you feel that your class needs further practice at this kind of activity, then two extension cards have
also been provided: Getting Raj to work - Extension (1) and (2). These are more open and students
find them more difficult.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-7

SOLUTIONS
Assessment task: Getting James to Work
The statistics in the table below may help you to interpret students answers:
Bicycle

Car

Walk-trainwalk

Car (with
outlier omitted)

Mean

26

29

26

25

Median

25.5

25.5

25

24

Range

38

10

13

Standard
Deviation
(correct to 2
decimal places)

2.05

12.27

3.85

5.13

Given the small amount of data and the similarity in the mean values, students may feel that there is
not much difference and little basis for a firm conclusion. These are important issues for them to
consider.
The following comments on each question are for guidance only:
1. The case for going by bicycle could draw on the fact that the mean is the (joint) smallest, coupled
with the fact that the spread of the data is less. This means that James can be more confident of
the time that it will take him to get to work, as the values are more consistent.
Students might also comment on the cheaper cost and environmental and fitness benefits of
cycling, the ease with which he can speed past traffic jams and the possibility that after weeks of
cycling to work he may be able to make the journey even more quickly, as he gets fitter. These
are not arguments based on the data, however.
2. The case for going by car initially looks weak, as the mean is higher than for the other modes of
transport and the data is also spread out, making the journey time very variable and this method
quite unreliable. However, much of this is caused by the one outlier of 57 minutes. Perhaps this
was caused by a freak traffic jam? Without knowing how often such events occur, students might
be unsure what to do with this data item. Omitting it gives the results in the right-hand column of
the table above, giving car travel the smallest mean time. However, there remains the unquantified risk of the occasional very long journey time. Even though there is no clear-cut rule
about what to do with outliers, students should be aware of the problem and should certainly
comment on a clear outlier such as this.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-8

Collaborative small-group work

Possible data values are shown in the table below. Other values would also work. The mean, median
and range are also shown in the table:
Mode of transport

Data (values in italics already given)

Mean Median Range

A1 Bicycle

25 22 26 23 28 23 25 27 24 27

25

25

Car

21 21 22 22 22 24 26 26 26 40

25

23

19

Bicycle

12 12 13 13 25 25 25 25 25 25

20

25

13

Car

20 24 24 20 18 24 20 16 20 24

21

20

B1

If students have made minor calculation errors, or have managed to satisfy only some of the
conditions in the descriptions, it is important to value what they have achieved and learned from the
task, even if they have not completed it perfectly.
Extension task
Mode of transport

Data (values in italics already given)

Mean Median Range

A2 Bicycle

18 18 19 19 20 20 20 20 21 25

20

20

Car

14 16 19 22 22 24 25 25 26 27

22

23

13

Bicycle

17 18 19 23 24 26 27 28 29 29

24

25

12

Car

24 24 25 25 25 25 31 36 37 48

30

25

24

B2

Assessment task: Running Times

The statistics in the table below may help you to interpret students answers:
Mary

David

Sally

David (with
outlier omitted)

Mean

63

64

64

62

Median

65

62

64.5

62

Range

12

27

Standard
Deviation
(correct to 2
decimal places)

3.98

7.15

1.25

1.84

1. The case for not entering Sally into the race could draw on the fact that the mean is the (joint)
highest, coupled with the fact that the median is the second highest out of the 3 runners. The
spread of the data is less than the other two runners, suggesting that Sally is running consistently
Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-9

at these times. Comparing Sallys race time with Davids (who has a comparable mean), even
when the outlier in Davids data is removed, Sallys running times are still more consistent.
Students might also comment on the fact that there is less data for Sally than the other two
runners. They may conclude that Sally is unreliable and so should not be entered into the race.
This argument is not, however, based explicitly on the data.
2. The case for not entering Mary into the race may initially look weak, as the mean is lower than
for the other runners and the times are more consistent than Davids (although not as consistent as
Sallys). However, the very high range of running times for David is caused by the one outlier of
86 minutes. Perhaps David was not feeling well on this occasion or injured himself during the
training session? Without knowing how often such events occur, students might be unsure what
to do with this data item. Omitting it gives the results in the right-hand column of the table above,
giving David the smallest mean time, bettering Marys mean of 63. However, there remains the
un-quantified risk of the occasional very long run time. Even though there is no clear-cut rule
about what to do with outliers, students should be aware of the problem and should certainly
comment on a clear outlier such as this.

Teacher guide

Comparing Data

T-10

Getting James to Work

James wants to get to work as quickly and reliably as possible in the mornings.
He tries three different transport methods:
cycle all the way
drive all the way
walk to the railway station, take the train, and walk from the station.
He tries each method several times and records how many minutes the entire journey takes:

bicycle
28 24 25 29 25 26 26 23 29 25
car
19 21 32 57 31 27 21 24
walk-train-walk 21 24 31 26 24 30
Look carefully at James results.
1. Use the data to make a case for why he should travel to work by bicycle.

2. Use the data to make a case for why he should travel to work by car.

Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-1

Getting Raj to Work (1)

A1
Description:
The mean times by car and by bicycle are the same.
The median car time is 23 minutes, whereas the median
bicycle time is 25 minutes.
The range of bicycle times is 6 minutes, whereas the
range of car times is only 5 minutes, if you exclude the
outlier.
Conclusion:
Raj should go by car.
Use the description to complete the data table below:
A1
Bicycle
times

25

22

26

23

28

23

25

27

24

27

Car
times

Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-2

Getting Raj to Work (2)

B1
Description:
The mean time by bicycle is 1 minute less than the
mean time by car.
The median time by bicycle is 5 minutes more than the
median time by car.
The range of car times is 8 minutes, which is 5 minutes
less than the range of bicycle times.
Conclusion:
Raj should go by car.
Use the description to complete the data table below:
B1

Bicycle
times
Car
times

Student Materials

20

24

24

20

18

24

20

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

16

20

24

S-3

Running Times
An athletics coach is training three runners Mary, David and Sally to compete in a 10-kilometer race.
He can only enter two of the runners and needs to decide which runner will not be entered.
He knows how many minutes it has taken each runner to run 10 kilometers in their training sessions:
Mary

70

58

58

65

59

60

66

59

65

65

66

65

David

62

60

60

64

86

64

64

61

59

62

64

62

Sally

65

63

62

64

62

65

65

65

65

64

Look carefully at the coachs results.

1. Use the data to make a case for why he should not enter Sally into the race.

2. Use the data to make a case for why he should not enter Mary into the race.

Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-4

Getting Raj to Work - Extension (1)

A2
Description:
The mean is 2 minutes less by bicycle.
The median is 3 minutes less by bicycle.
The range by bicycle is also less, so travelling by
bicycle is more consistent from day to day.
Conclusion:
Raj should go by bicycle.
Use the description to complete the data table below:
A2

Bicycle
times
Car
times

Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-5

Getting Raj to Work - Extension (2)

B2
Description:
The mean time by bicycle is four-fifths of the mean time
by car.
There is an outlier in the car times, but even if you
exclude that, the mean time by bicycle is 4 minutes less.
The median times by car and by bicycle are the same.
Conclusion:
Raj should go by car.
Use the description to complete the data table below:
B2

Bicycle
times
Car
times

Student Materials

Comparing Data
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham

S-6

What do these terms mean?

Mean
Median
Range
Outlier
Projector Resources

Comparing Data

P-1

Collaborative work: constructing data

1. Use the information given to make up times to go in the
table. The times are all in minutes.
2. Check that the data you create fits all of the information
contained in the description at the top of the card.
3. Consider whether the numbers in the table are
reasonable in the given context. Amend any that are
not, ensuring that the card still fits the description.

Projector Resources

Comparing Data

P-2

Collaborative work: writing descriptions

1. Cut along the dashed line.
2. Swap the data table with another group
(A1s swap with B1s).

3. Write a description of the data you have just been given.

Refer to the mean, median and range and comment on
any outliers. (It may not match exactly what it said on that
card!).
4. Explain whether you think Raj should travel to work by
bicycle or by car.
Projector Resources

Comparing Data

P-3

Mathematics Assessment Project

CLASSROOM CHALLENGES

This lesson was designed and developed by the

Shell Center Team
at the
University of Nottingham
Malcolm Swan, Clare Dawson, Sheila Evans,
Marie Joubert and Colin Foster
with
Hugh Burkhardt, Rita Crust, Andy Noyes, and Daniel Pead
It was refined on the basis of reports from teams of observers led by
David Foster, Mary Bouck, and Diane Schaefer
based on their observation of trials in US classrooms
along with comments from teachers and other users.

This project was conceived and directed for

MARS: Mathematics Assessment Resource Service
by
Alan Schoenfeld, Hugh Burkhardt, Daniel Pead, and Malcolm Swan
and based at the University of California, Berkeley

We are grateful to the many teachers, in the UK and the US, who trialed earlier versions
of these materials in their classrooms, to their students, and to
Judith Mills, Mathew Crosier, Nick Orchard and Alvaro Villanueva who contributed to the design.
This development would not have been possible without the support of
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
We are particularly grateful to
Carina Wong, Melissa Chabran, and Jamie McKee
2014 MARS, Shell Center, University of Nottingham
This material may be reproduced and distributed, without modification, for non-commercial purposes,
under the Creative Commons License detailed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
All other rights reserved.
Please contact map.info@mathshell.org if this license does not meet your needs.